WEBVTT

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(Ian Goldin) Great, thank you: it's
wonderful to be with educators

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who care about the intersection
of learning and technology,

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because that's going to shape the future.

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Whether we're able
to get this right or not

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will determine whether we have
a glorious 21st century

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or a period of unmitigated risks.

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The walls are coming down everywhere and
it's difficult to not think about this,

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being so close to it, here in Berlin,

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25 years ago, these walls coming down.

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But it's not just about physical walls
coming down,

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it's about mental walls,
it's about financial walls,

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it's about technological walls.

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All the walls are coming down,
and it's that

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which makes this the most exciting century
in the history of humanity.

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It changes all of our lives
in surprising ways.

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And it's certainly changed mine.

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I was living in Paris
when this wall came down.

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I didn't imagine that it would touch me
personally.

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I thought it was about Eastern Europe,
about the Cold War, about something else.

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But within 6 months, I would,
much to my surprise,

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I was invited to have dinner with
President Mandela in Paris.

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He wasn't president then,
he had just been released from prison.

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But he was released
because the Cold War ended.

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And the defining feature of this period
we live in our lives

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is what happens elsewhere will
dramatically affect us in new ways.

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It's this change that results
from the walls coming down.

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And it's this chance that will shape
education going forward

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and technological progress.

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And of course, the other fundamental
period of -- in this time --

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is technology, technology,
which got off the ground

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at the same time as the Berlin Wall
came down, over 25 years.

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This exponential growth in
virtual connectivity.